SAN FRANCISCO — A second mistrial has been declared in the federal trial of a former San Francisco Police’s crime lab technician accused of skimming cocaine from the lab.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston declared the mistrial Thursday in the case against Deborah Madden when jurors told Illston they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict after their third day of deliberations on charges of obtaining cocaine by fraud, deception or subterfuge.

Madden’s first trial ended with a hung jury in October.

Madden was at the center of a scandal resulting in hundreds of drug cases being dropped after she was accused of taking cocaine evidence from the lab while she worked there in late 2009.

The federal charges came after state prosecutors declined to file charges. The U.S. attorney’s office has not said if it will seek a third trial.

The 62-year-old Madden, a resident of San Mateo, later pleaded no contest in a San Mateo County court to possession of cocaine.

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